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The ScienceBlogs Command Center has decided to fire up a group blog for election season. It's called A Vote for Science, and several Sb'ers and others will be writing about the candidates and science policy (including yours truly).
If your a political junkie and a science geek, cruise on over and…
In this post: the large versions of the Life Science and Physical Science channel photos, comments from readers, and the best posts of the week.
Physical Science. A lever of the first class. From Flickr, by zaxl4
Life Science. Rhopalaea Crassa, a fluorescent colored sea squirt. From Flickr,…
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure
Two of my grandsons were here today. They are just babies (16 months and month and half) but one of them is a little colicky. He looks like he is having cramps after downing his formula. But compared to some babies in China, it's nothing. The formula they'…
Candidate's promises and positions do not always match what is constitutionally or procedurally possible. It is possible to wrap oneself in the Constitution and hide behind it at the same time. Several years ago, a child died when a string attached to his 'hoodie' was caught in the frame of…
Bloggers offer advice and observations related to the election:
David Roberts at Gristmill went to the RNC convention and observed that the GOP has three different views on energy: âwhat the pols and power brokers believe, what they tell the base, and what they tell the elite media and political…
One of our sciblings, Dr. Signout, is learning the ropes as she struggles (and presumably excels) through her medical residency. As her writing has picked back up, she has brought up some important questions about medical education and medical professionalism. I'm a little further along in my…
SciBlogs editorial staff looks at the meaning of dominance. Did dinosaurs ever really rule the Earth? Did they ever stop? And what does it mean to be "dominant"?
Two Willet birds in silhouette (Tringa semipalmata; formerly Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) on Morro Strand State Beach. From Flickr, by…
In this post: the large versions of the Technology channel photo, comments from readers, and the best posts of the week.
Technology. Old robotics engineering equipment in Bristol, England. From Flickr, by crabchick
Reader comments of the week:
At Journalism schools behind the times, Coturnix of…
by revere, cross-posted at Effect Measure
Bush has announced he will reduce the forces in Iraq by 8000 by early 2009. My first thought (after "that's it? I thought we were victorious"; and let's get all of them out now as fast as we can) was to wonder what condition they will be in and what's in…
José Herrera, a contract worker at a Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi, was working on equipment when a pipe ruptured and scorched one-third of his body with 550-degree oil. Herrera is now disabled and in constant pain, even in his sleep. Workersâ compensation insurance covers his extensive medical…
By Mary Carol Jennings
In the setting of the upcoming elections, my Senator, Jim DeMint, recently wrote a letter of opinion to the Washington Times opposing a global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria bill that will provide life-saving medications and prevention against infectious disease in the…
Teh Overlordz have demanded some link love and a reminder that the one million mark is coming up. That means swag, celebration, and song (OK, maybe no singing).
The SE Michigan get-together is still a-plannin' (meaning I haven't decided what place to tell people to show up yet). I'm hoping I can…
I fear for this anniversary. Like everyone else, my memories of 9/11 are vivid. It is a shared experience for Americans, but as time goes on, it is losing its shared meaning. Some of this meaning will, I'm sure, continue to be shunted into political ends, even more so with the election coming up…
The Seattle Post-Intelligencerâs Andrew Schneider reports on another lawsuit from a consumer who says his lungs have been damaged by years of microwave popcorn consumption. The most famous microwave-popcorn consumer, Wayne Watson of Denver, filed suit earlier this year. Watson drew national…
In this post: the large versions of the Education & Careers and Politics channel photos, comments from readers, and the best posts of the week.
Education and Careers. From Flickr, by david_terrar
Politics. Protesters scuffle with police outside the Republican National Convention in St.…
Our post on preventing falls among the elderly has been included in the latest edition of Hourglass, a monthly blog carnival devoted to the biology of aging. Alvaro at SharpBrains has assembled recent aging-related posts in a creative format; for more, check out Ouroboros for the Hourglass…
(I felt Doctor Signout deserved a more complete answer, so here it is.)
I'm surrounded by cynicism. Doctors make particularly good cynics (although not always the best skeptics). Why are we cynics? Pehaps because we see human behavior in the raw. On a daily---no, hourly---basis, we see people…
The recent issues of Newsweek and TIME both carried sobering articles about the state of cancer research. Newsweekâs Sharon Begley reports that cancer is on track to claim 565,650 lives in the U.S. this year, and that number isnât a whole lot better than it was in 1971, when President Nixon signed…
Last month, David Michaels spoke to Google employees about his book Doubt is Their Product: How Industryâs Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, and Google has now posted the video on YouTube as part of their Authors@Google series.
The Google employees asked astute questions (…
"This happens. We live with that."
These are the words of ironworker Luis Guzman, who was working at the site of a new Manhattan skyscraper Tuesday when his fellow worker, Anthony Espito, 43, fell 40 stories (roughly 400 feet) to the ground. He was killed instantly. It appeared Mr. Espito was in…
So, due to circumstances beyond his control, Ed over at Dispatches won't be able to plan our Michigan party, so we're going to do it in the Detroit metro area on Saturday, Sept. 20th. I don't have the place yet, but I'm getting the idea that there are a few definite maybes. Let me know (again if…
I don't know. There was a pretty good piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, but it's really not clear enough for most readers (including myself).
The McCain and Obama websites give fairly comprehensive looks at their health plans, but nothing useful for a lay reader.
The good news is that…
Like many Jewish families, tracing our history is often a sad and difficult task. Three of my four grandparents escaped Europe to found new families in America, giving me the illusion of having a small family, as Hitler uprooted and burnt the rest of my family tree. But the networks formed by…
John Stossel of ABC's 20/20 has never been one of my favorites. He's one of those folks who often poses as a skeptic by using doubt and mockery indiscriminately. Tonight, though, he got it right. He discusses food obsessions and fads, pointing out the contradictions inherent in food cultists.…
Given all the recent problems with contaminated food, itâs not surprising that food labeling is a hot topic these days:
Revere at Effect Measure thinks itâs ridiculous that the USDA is denying a meatpacker permission to test all of its cattle for mad cow disease.
Andrew Schneider at Secret…
On Labor Day, Matthew D. LaPlante reported in the Salt Lake Tribune:
On a day purportedly dedicated to America's laborers, much of the nation's labor force remained out in force. According to Development Dimensions International, a human resource consulting firm, about 40 percent of Americans work…
Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette has been following closely and reporting on the deadly blast on Aug 28 at the multinational Bayer CropScience's plant in Institute, WV. His first story (here) indicated that witnesses saw a red fireball at about 10:25 pm, and that …
Last week I went to the dermatologist. I have a few moles, and some of them were looking a little funny. The dermatologist did a full skin exam, and agreed that some of my moles looked funny, and she removed them. About a week later a pathology report confirmed that I have dysplastic nevi, and…